I will be in Greece during this summer and will surley want to go out spotting. Do you have any idea how legal it is over there? I will be in Athens. I've seen so few pics here on a.net of ATH and I was wondering...

Best regards and have a great day

Philippe

It's not about AIRBUS. it's not about BOEING. It's all about the beauty of FLYING.

As far as I can gather the Greeks are a touch more paranoid than the rest of the world re spotting. On my only trip to the old Athens airport, I had the security of an RAF hercules to spot from. However, the furore created a couple of years ago by the British spotters arrested in Greece should give you some idea of the attitude of the Greek authorities.

DO NOT, under any circumstances be seen pointing a camera through or over link fences at an airport perimeter, from car parks etc. and certainly not where there may be any military aircraft and/or military establishments nearby. Photography from the public area of a terminal building seems to be reasonably acceptable but it really would be a good idea to ask permission if there are any military, airport security or police personnel around you.

You will normally find "No Photography" signs hanging on fences etc. Ignore these at your peril.

I recently went to Crete where photography was definitely banned outside the perimeters. It wasn't much good inside the terminal either as the glass was dirty and heavily tinted. I found a nearby beach where I could sit in a bar and get good shots of aircraft on finals. I've never been to Athens so I can't comment on nearby safe areas.

I was in Athens a couple of weeks ago. Spotting from around the airport fence is virtually impossible - it's quite a distance and you might get stopped if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is a viewing area inside the terminal on the left but it's glass. If you are going to be there for a while then I would think about a day trip to one of the islands. See my trip report.

You could book with Aegean Airlines in advance online and fly out to one of the islands for the day. You would enjoy that more.

Athens is a nice place (even without the possibility to go aircraft-spotting ...)!

I have been there 3 times during summer but I have never gone out for spotting when I was there (too hot, and "other" wishes from the family ...), although it is not so difficult - with a tele - to find a good spot in the neighborhood of the airport.

I have shot this one (poor quality) through the windows, at the airport:

Athens is the location for the Champions League Final next May. Except in the unlikely event that a Greek team gets to the final (sorry Olympiacos fans!) it would be well worth a visit for a guaranteed aviation influx (No nearby alternative airports that I'm aware of either).

I am fairly sure I have seen photos taken from a recognised spot at ATH somewhere..... maybe in one of the magazines.

Isnt there a cool bar/restaurant just in sight of the approach patch? I do remember reading an articel somewhere, in which have been really nice pictures, it looked really close to the airport. A very cozy place. They said they had no problems spotting AND taking photos from that elevated bar ...

Quoting Rotate (Reply 9):Isnt there a cool bar/restaurant just in sight of the approach patch? I do remember reading an articel somewhere, in which have been really nice pictures, it looked really close to the airport. A very cozy place. They said they had no problems spotting AND taking photos from that elevated bar ...

Robin

That was at the old airport wasn't it? The Emantina or something similar. In fact, several of the hotels in Glifada (not sure if thats the right spelling) had excellent views of planes landing and taking off. The one we stayed in for half a night certainly had a good view.

Quoting Rotate (Reply 9):Isnt there a cool bar/restaurant just in sight of the approach patch?

No, but you can get shots from a location near the Sofitel, this is good for all day shooting but I don;t know how "safe" this location is as you are directly at the airport thus quite exposed to local authorities.

Most of my shots at ATH were taken on the ramp, but some others were taken around the perimiter

The MP MD11 shot was taken from the spot mentioned above. There is a road (overpass) kind of between RWY 3R and L, traffic in the morning is no real factor. A few mornings I just stopped there and for instance took that AZ shot.

I was there in Fall 2004 for two days.
At the first day I was standing between the two runways where they vacate the 04L runway where they usually land, it's a parking lot near Taxiway K.
No action shots at all
Next day I was standing along 04 near The IKEA, with better light it would be a so wonderful spotting place

We were sitting near a cafe there and were acting like we were eating breakfast, as the police cars drove around the perimeter road.
Maybe one hour we could be there, then a police car was driving outside the fence, and we already thought: "damn, no more spotting here "
He came, we showed our passports, he wrote the numbers down and said that it's forbidden to take pictures here... so we walked to the terminal back, to the McDonald's and took some pictures there... Then we came across a nice spot were you can see the landings on 04L and how they vacate... It's on the other side of the Hotel inside the airport, Sheraton i think. You are non a platform where you can see the parking lot again, from there we could take some of these shots:

We were looking around the whole time to avoid another contact with police. As a plane lands, we took our cameras, took 1 or 2 pics and stowed them away... LOL was quite funny

So overall, if you just wanted to go to ATH for spotting ,forget it... But you can go to the city! Really great with acropolis and the streets with shops everywhere!

If you are going to ATH for spotting, just write me so I can make a map and a description (in French or German as you like )
If you got a Swiss Passport, don't be scared, they all think your from Sweden, even when there is written on the front: "Switzerland" LOL

I was there last september at the Dept Lounge there is the McDonalds upstairs and photography will be good from let say 3pm till very later afternoon.....Forget to get the Dash8 of Olympic since they vacate the runway very early and they rotate very early too if they take full runway...
Malcolm

Philippe,
if I would be you (and unless you are fluent in Greek and could talk you way out), I would not try to spot at ATH airport. The police is really unpredictable and you may get a warning only but also having to pay a fine or even getting arrested.